Planning on Building a 4K HTPC But Need Some Advice? Read This

What is 4K and how does it differ from Ultra HD? Why do I need to care about HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 if I want to get 4K 60Hz UHD? And what do these terms mean?

I have to admit that I’ve been completely lost with 4K.

But, according to the emails I have received from My Media Experience readers, I’m not the only one:

What does 4K and Ultra HD mean?

Is now a good time to go for a 4K HTPC?

Where to get Ultra HD content?

In this post, I will try to answer to these questions according to the research I have done on the Internet and the tests I’ve done with my HTPC hardware.

Subscriber-exclusive content: If you’re My Media Experience subscriber, you get free life-time access to step-by-step training courses in our member resource library that will help you to build your HTPC from scratch, choose the right software and set them up. Not subscribed yet? Sign up here.

In case you are wondering, the p in 1080p and 720p stands for progressive scan, i.e., non-interlaced.

You may have also seen the term HDR in some of the advertisements promoting Ultra HD TVs and devices.

According to AVSForum, HDR is a way of displaying the wider dynamic range.

The benefit of HDR for you is that dark parts look darker and bright parts brighter, while the details are retained even when both dark and bright colors are displayed at the same time.

4K is not technically the correct term for your 3840 x 2160 resolution TV, but it is used so often that it does not matter if you use 4K and Ultra HD interchangeably.

Ultra HD (or UHD) is the correct term for your TV.

Is now a good time to go for a 4K HTPC?

If you are planning to put together your own custom 4K HTPC build running with Windows 10, the answer is not yet.

The reason being, that there are currently very few motherboards and graphics cards that support HDMI 2.0 at 60 Hz, HEVC/H.265, and HDCP 2.2 that is required to output Ultra HD video.

Let’s break down this confusing jargon:

HDMI: According to the Wikipedia, it is an audio/video interface for transferring uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data. As illustrated in the image below, the newer HDMI 2.0, 2.0a and 2.0b standards have higher bandwidth, which is required to get smoother 4K video quality.

Refresh rate (Hz): According to the Wikipedia, it is the number of times in a second that your TV updates its buffer. As illustrated in the image below, 60 Hz can display more images in a 1-second duration compared to 30 Hz which means you will get a smoother video.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC): According to the Wikipedia, the HEVC (also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2), is a video compression standard. The HEVC offers the same level of picture quality as its successor AVC (H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10), but with better compression.

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP): According to the Wikipedia, the HDCP 2.2 version is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of 4K Ultra HD content as it travels across connections.

So, now that we have the terminology clarified, which graphics cards are 4K 60Hz Ultra HD capable?

All the current NVIDIA cards with HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 are:

GeForce GTX 1080

GeForce GTX 1070

GeForce GTX 1060

GeForce GTX 1050

GeForce GTX 960

GeForce GTX 950

Update: Thanks to my reader’s comment there is at least the following graphics card from AMD that supports HDMI 2.0b and HDCP 2.2:

Radeon RX 480

If you find other graphics cards that are 4K at 60Hz capable, please let me know in the Facebook comments.

Vudu

4K does not work on PC
Vudu differentiates from other Ultra HD streaming providers by offering Dolby Vision HDR Picture and Dolby Atmos Audio in addition to the Ultra HD video format.

Make your own 4K content

4K works on PC

If you are using the latest iPhone or Samsung phone, you own a 4K camera. To start making your own 4K content, you will probably need to enable 4K video on your phone as it is turned off by default in many phones.

Enable 4K video on iPhone 6s:

Launch the Settings app.

Select Photos & Camera.

Under the Camera section, select Record Video.

Select 4K at 30 fps.

Key Takeaways

Now you have a better idea what is the difference between 4K and Ultra HD and what hardware is required to play 4K content.

The key takeaways from this post are:

4K has slightly higher resolution than Ultra HD, but most people use 4K and Ultra HD interchangeably.

You can watch 4K content at 60Hz with certain NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards, but the problem is that most 4K content providers do not support PC at the moment.

Subscriber-exclusive content: If you’re My Media Experience subscriber, you get free life-time access to step-by-step training courses in our member resource library that will help you to build your HTPC from scratch, choose the right software and set them up. Not subscribed yet? Sign up here.